93-year old manga artist Shigeru Mizuki—creator of Gegege no Kitaro and numerous other comics—announced the sudden end of his comic Watashi no Hibi (My Everyday). The comic was being serialized in Big Comics. The 10th issue of Big Comics will be the final installment.

Mizuki announced the comic on his 91st birthday. Serialization began that year, in December of 2013. With its publication, he became the oldest practicing manga artist. This drew massive media attention. However on May 9th, 2015, Big Comics announced: “It’s an abrupt ending, but with the next volume the story will be coming to conclusion.”

The “abrupt ending” had many worrying about Mizuki sensei’s health, especially due to his advanced age. The editorial department sent out an assurance that this was not the case, and that the ending of the serial had nothing to do with Mizuki’s health.

Watashi no Hibi (My Everyday) is an autobiographical comic that covers Mizuki Shigeru’s life, from his childhood in rural Japan to his wartime experience to his life as a manga artist, as well as stories of his family. Each is told as a short story, with 34 stories in total. They plan to release the complete set of stories in a collected edition this July.

Later, Mizuki Pro Tweeted this:

The Big Comics serial is finished. “Why? Is Mizuki sensei sick?” We want to assure you that is not the case. It is true that he was not feeling so well at the end of last year, and that he is still not completely recovered. But truthfully, Mizuki is finding the demands and mental strain of a serialized story too much at his advanced age. Drawing the manga has kept him in the house, and he would rather be doing other things.

Thanks to everyone for your concern!

Translator’s Note:

Here is another translated new article about the end of Shigeru Mizuki’s most recent comic. There has been a lot of speculation about the reason, so I wanted to make this available, especially Mizuki Pro’s tweet regarding the true reason for the abrupt ending of the series.

At about 1 AM on the morning of the 25th, in 2Chome, Tenjin ward, Fukuoka City, four stone fox statues were found broken on the grounds of Kego Shrine. The police station made a check for other property damage. The statues were pushed off their bases and their heads broken off. So far, no tools or implements have been found that may have been used in the crime. There are no suspects.

According to a patrolman, the four statues were located at the main shrine at the south entrance of the temple grounds. This deity of the shine is the “Goddess Inari of Profits and Gains” The statues were approximately 1.2 – 1.5 meters in height. It is thought the heads were broken off before they were pushed off their bases. They were discovered by a temple volunteer walking the perimeter.

According to the police, temples and shrines in Nara and Kyoto have been desecrated by someone splashing an oil-like substance on the shrines. It is not known if the two attacks are related.

The statues were carved by Kunihiro Seiho (76) and his father. They dedicated the statues in thanks of a long and healthy life of good work. Seiho was enraged, saying “I would visit the statues once a month. They mattered. Why would anyone do something like this? I can’t understand at all.”

Translator’s Note:

I’ve never put up a newspaper article here before, but there seemed to be a lot of interest in this so I thought I would! A terrible act of vandalism.